Art of obtaining products from hydrocarbons by heat treatment



June 24, 1930 w. K. LEWIS in. AL 1,767,297

ART OF OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM HYDROCARBONS BY HEAT TREATMENT Filed March 30, 1923 Z-SheetS-Sheet 1 June 24, 1930. W. K. LEIWIS ET AL 1,767,297

ART OF OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM HYDROCARBONS BY HEAT TREATMENT Filed March so, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 the'hot combustion gases.

Patented June 24, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WARREN K. LEWIS, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, AND NATHANIEL E. LOOMIS, OF

ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO STANDARD OIL DEVELOPMENT COM- PANY,-A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE ART OF OBTAINING PRODUCTS FROM HYDROCARBONS BY HEAT TREATMENT Application filed March so,

This invention-relates to the art of obtaining products from hydrocarbonsby heat treatment, and will be fully understood from the following description, reference being had also to the accompanying drawings, in which i Fig. 1 is a vertical section through one form of apparatus contemplated in the invention; and

Fig. 2'is a similar view of a modification.

In the drawing, the reference character 1 designates a furnace chamber suitably arranged to be heated by oil-burners or coal or other desired fuel.

A suitable heat-radiating material 2 for example, refractory checker-work or the like, is heated by the furnace gases; and in position to receive; radiant heat from such radiating surfaces is a pipe coil or conduit 3 which receives feed oil, introduced into the system, for instance by inlet pipe 4. Connecting on from the coil 3 is another coil 5 placed in another compartment and out of position to receive radiant heat from the radiating surfaces at 2. This coil is heated predominantly by the hot products of combustion which pass on from the furnace through the compartment 6 and finally escape up the stack 7. The cross-sectional area of the passage 6 may be narrowed in order to insure a flow-rate as desired for the hot products of combustion.

As already ipdicated the oil entering the system passes through coil 3 and is initially heated predominantly by the radiant heat.' Proceeding on through the coil 5 the temperature ultimately desired is attained from If preferred, the coils may be so connected up that the oil on leaving coil 3 is introduced into the last row of coil 5 so as to flow throu h such coil counter-currently to the direction of the hot products of combustion.

For furnace-efficiency a high fire-box temperature is advantageous, but as this may result also in too much heat in the upper part of the checker-work or radiatlng element, it is desirable to provide temperaturecontrol means. To this end, a flue 8, Fig. 2, may tap ofi relatively cool gases from the stack, a'blower 9 of any suitable type being 1923. Serial No. 628,947.

in the radiant mass may be controlled as desired.

When the-apparatus described is used for cracking oils, the temperature in the seriesconnected coils may be from about 725 to 1000 F., and the pressure may be about 250 to 1000 lbs. per square inch. It will be understood that this invention is not limited to any particular method of cracking and the conditions may be varied as desired.

While we have described our invention with reference to certain specificdetails, it will be understood that this is for pur ose of illustration, to make the invention 0 ear, and is not limitative; and changes may be made which come within the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. Process for heating oil comprising burning fuel, passing the combustion products so formed through and out of a zone wherein they encounter a large number of surfaces adapted for heat absorption and radiation, heating a stream of oil by radiation from said zone and convection, passing said stream of oil into a space shielded from radiation, further heating said stream in said space by indirect heat exchange with combustion roducts passing from said zone,

' and regulating the temperature of said zone combustion products radiation, substantially uniformly distributing such radiation over a stream of the oil to be heated, maintaining said. stream at all times remote from contact with the flame of the burning fuel but in indirect heat ex-=. change with combustion gases, passing said stream of oil into a space shielded. from radiation, and further heating said stream in said space by heat transfer from said combustion gases after they have emergedv from said heat radiating surfaces and said indirect heat exchange.

3. Process according to claim 2 in which the temperature of the combustion zone is regulated by return of cool combustion products thereto for admixture with the hot gases after the greater part of the combustion has taken place thereln.

4. 011 heating apparatus, comprising a combustion furnace, a series connected pipe coil, a heat radiating checkerwork between the source of furnace gases and the coil, a second coil connected to receive a stream of oil from said coil and out of heat radiation range of said checkerwork, and means for returning combustion gas, after contact with said second coil, to the checkerwork, whereby the temperature of the checkerwork may be controlled.

5. Oil heating apparatus, comprising a combustion'furnace, a series connected pipe coil, a checkerwork arranged to shield the coil from freshly generated combustion gases and to absorb and radiate heat to the coil, and a second coil connected to receive a stream 'of oil from said coil and out of heat-radiation range of said checkerwork.

6. Oil heating apparatus, comprising a combustion furnace, a series connected pipe coil, a checkerwork arranged to shield the coil from freshly generated combustion gases and to absorb and radiate heat to the coil, means for causing the furnace gases to flow through the checker-work so as to uniformly heat the same, and a second coil connected to receive the stream of oil from the first mentioned coil and out of heat radiation range of said checker-work.

WARREN K. LEWIS. NATHANIEL E. LOOMIS; 

